In this photo taken Wednesday, March 12, 2014, Army Reserve Capt. Sage Fox poses in El Dorado Hills, Calif. Following a deployment to Kuwait as a man, Fox began taking female hormones and began living as a woman.

In this photo taken Wednesday, March 12, 2014, Army Reserve Capt. Sage Fox poses in El Dorado Hills, Calif. Following a deployment to Kuwait as a man, Fox began taking female hormones and began living as a woman. (Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press file)

WASHINGTON, D. C. - Faced with a July 1 deadline to fully implement an Obama-administration military policy that would let transgender people enlist in the armed forces, President Trump's defense secretary announced on Friday that he'll delay the deadline at least until Jan 1.

Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis would use that time to examine how to implement the policy and the effect it would have on "the readiness and lethality of our forces."

The decision won't affect transgender troops currently serving in the military, the Military Times reported. Obama's defense secretary, Ash Carter, announced the altered transgender troop policy last year, saying it would let the military "access talent of transgender service members." So far, it has let existing transgender people in the military begin to formally change their gender identification in Pentagon records.

Conservative organizations were pleased by Friday's announcement. The Family Research Council noted that a recent Rasmussen survey finds "just 23% of likely U.S. voters think the U.S. military's decision to allow openly transgender people to serve is good for the military."

"The Pentagon is right to hit the brakes on a policy that will fail to make our military more capable in performing its mission to fight and win wars," said the organization's executive vice president, Jerry Boykin, a former U.S. Army lieutenant general, adding that "spending billions of dollars on transgender surgeries and treatment plans, when the military has other priorities that would actually ensure its effectiveness in war, is irresponsible."

But Democrats including Rep. Tim Ryan of the Niles area were disheartened. He released a statement Wednesday that said thousands of transgender servicemembers currently serve in the military and "more than 134,000 of our retired Veterans are transgender."

"Since President Obama repealed the antiquated and discriminatory requirement for these patriots to serve in silence, we have only seen positive impacts on the strength of our Armed Forces and their readiness to protect our country," said a statement from Ryan. "As a member of the Defense Appropriations Committee, I know we can do this. I know we are doing this. I know we must do this."

Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee are less enthused about about transgender troops. At a June 28 hearing, Missouri's Vicky Hartzler predicted their transition surgeries alone would cost $1.35 billion over the next 10 years "and that is with the assumption of only 30 percent of individuals choosing to transition.

California's Duncan Hunter, a Marine Corps reserves major, called the transgender acceptance policy "one of the most ridiculous things that our prior Commander in Chief has done in his storied eight years of doing ridiculous things.

"I could not even imagine having to share berthing or showers with somebody who was a girl and didn't have the surgery to become a man but kept the girl stuff and now she is with a bunch of guys or vice versa," Hunter said at the hearing.